In this recent post, called “Goodbye, Levenwick”, I showed photos of my poor, departed Levenwick cardigan.  Despite my love for the pattern, it didn’t fit, it looked sloppy, the fabric bunched and I never wore it.  When I discovered a moth hole in it, I took my scissors and started to rip.  Well, it’s Goodbye Levenwick….Hello Arleen:

Arleen is a simple T-shirt pattern designed by Dona Knits (Ravelry link here).  I was in the mood for a fast, simple knit and this fit the bill.  I didn’t even have to knit a gauge swatch since it has the same gauge as Levenwick, so as soon as I finished ripping, I cast on and started knitting.

Arleen is a top-down raglan, knit in the round.  I made three small modifications.  FIrst, I didn’t like the way the pattern makes the raglan increases (with a kfb, kbf), so I used M1, k1, slip marker, k1, m1.   This makes a much neater raglan, at least for me.  Second, the pattern says to start waist decreases at 7 inches after the sleeve separation.  I don’t know about you, but I am considerably higher waisted than that; I started the waist decreases at 4″.  Then, I made an extra set of waist decreases, offset by an extra set of hip increases.  This makes a lovely, shapely sweater, that is not too fitted.

This T-shirt took me 12 days from start to finish, including blocking.  I am sure there are knitters out there who could whip it out in a couple of days.  If you are looking for something fast, cute and comfortable, this definitely fits the bill.  (Another plus, the pattern is available for free.)

However, the very best thing about this sweater is that it perfectly matches my Stripe Study Shawl:

This shawl was the topic of my very first blog post in October 2011.  It was desiged by the talented Veera Välimäki.  I knit it with two skeins of Wollweise “Pure” 100% Merino Superwash.  I don’t seem to have recorded the colour of the brown, but the blue is called “Aquarius” and is an astoundingly good match for the Cascade 220 in colour 2433 with which I knit Arleen.

I think I will get a lot more use out of this than I did out of Levenwick.  In fact, since I finished it, I keep thinking of making another one, say in black, and maybe a red one, and fuschia would look good, perhaps emerald, oh I know, rust, or navy,  maybe charcoal……..